PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND—I’ve only been on the island a few minutes when I see a blue and white directional road sign. “Montague, 13 km.,” it says, or words to that effect. “Liquor Store, 12 km.”

Later that day, as I dine on tender scallops and local boar prosciutto at the lovely Inn at Bay Fortune, I look at a brochure for Charlottetown. The first line in an information panel above a city map tells me the city’s population, now around 60,000. The second line advises tourists that the legal drinking age is 19.

On top of that, what’s one of the hot topics in tourism circles on this lovely, gentle place? The accolades being handed out to a couple of distilleries, Prince Edward Distillery with its flavourful gin and potato vodka and other spirits, and Myriad, which makes a legal “straitshine” with 50 per cent alcohol.

You’ll also find several wineries in PEI these days making a pretty good product, including Rossignol’s slightly fruity, but good L’Acadie Blanc and the very decent Newman Red.

Prince Edward Brewing Company is going gangbusters selling products that range from Beach Chair Lager to Island Red, part of the Gahan line of beers.

Now, I’m not in any way suggesting Prince Edward Islanders have a drinking problem; on the contrary, I’m suggesting they’ve kicked up things up a notch or three since the last time I was here, maybe 15 years ago.

And they’re kicking up their heels. My image of the island from a trip with my wife and kids many years back was of lobster suppers in a church basement and that girl with the braids and freckles and red hair and the island’s famous cliffs.

This time, my memory is of an into-the-wee-hours dancing marathon at a hopping Charlottetown pub, followed by a half hour or so of pulsing dance music under the flashing lights at a nearby bar, surrounded by 20-something’s who would’ve looked right at home in Toronto’s Entertainment District.

It’s not just the wineries and distilleries and pubs making a name for themselves; the food is catching people’s attention.

You can still get boiled lobster with plain bread and corn on the cob. But you’ll also find foodie meccas such as Terre Rouge in surprisingly lively and highly attractive downtown Charlottetown and the Inn at Bay Fortune in eastern P.E.I., where they’ll dress your charcuterie plate with tasty, edible nasturtium flowers and serve your local meats with an onion jam with champagne vinaigrette. I could’ve eaten it all night. This is the place that renowned chef Michael Smith helped make famous.

The food scene here has come a long way. But the down-home attitudes and the beaches and the red-and-white lighthouses and the sleepy, postcard-pretty villages haven’t gone anywhere.

One of the first spots I visit in my return is Montague, a small town — the island only has roughly 150,000 people — tucked beside one of those tranquil river inlets that P.E.I. is famous for. There’s a cute sign on one of the main streets advertising Laurie’s Beauty Shop and Chester’s barber shop.

I cross over the Montague River and stop at a sparkling clean park along the water. There’s a big sign that proudly speaks of Montague being “the hub of Kings County” and how it boasts nearly 2,000 residents. There’s also a very un-Canadian proclamation stating the town is known as “Montague the Beautiful.” I couldn’t agree more.

Later in the day, I enjoy a fine lunch of excellent frites and lightly breaded fish (they call it Fish-and-Chips Portuguese-style) at 21 Breakwater in the French-flavoured town of Souris.

I ask my waitress if she thinks I should drive a half hour or so out to East Point, where I’d heard there was a pretty lighthouse. I think she is 16 or maybe 18. She looked at me and said, “I’ve never been out that far.”

Undeterred, I drive past the beautiful beach at Basin Head, where it’s too windy to properly enjoy the sea, and stop in at the East Point Lighthouse, one of a couple dozen perfect red-and-white painted beacons on the island.

I climb a mere 67 steps for a great view of the tranquil P.E.I. landscape and of red sandstone cliffs pounded and sculpted and twisted and kneaded by endless centuries of wind and water.

Back to the west in the hamlet of Hermanville is Prince Edward Distillery, which sprang up a few years back and makes vodka from potatoes, just as they do in Eastern Europe.

A pair of American women started the business and have now won awards for their blueberry vodka (made with grain, not potatoes) and other products, including a very crisp gin.

Worker Loretta Campbell, who bills herself a spirits ambassador, shows me the still and explains the workings of the place.

Neither of the owners had a background in spirits, but they figured that, with all the potatoes around, they could try potato vodka. I wasn’t thrilled with it, but apparently it’s quite good with the right garnishes and makes a killer Caesar.

The blueberry vodka has only the faintest blueberry taste to it and is quite clean and refreshing. The gin has a great juniper kick and also tastes of eight or nine other secret spices they use to make the stuff.

They also have a rye with 99 per cent rye grain, a Bourbon-like whisky that they can’t call Bourbon, because they’re not in Kentucky, and a new rum that was pretty tasty.

The two women also own the Johnson Shore inn across the road, a beautiful, quiet spot on the water ideal for someone who wants to stay and read or paint.

In case you were wondering, it takes 18 pounds of potatoes to make a bottle of potato vodka. And, in case you wondered about this, too, you do not have to peel the potatoes before the distillation process, something the owners found out only after peeling a few million tubers during their first go-round.

“If you see anyone on P.E.I. missing a finger or two, you’ll know why,” Campbell explains with a laugh.

It’s $10 for a tasting and a tour at the distillery, and well worth it.

I have just enough time following my tour to make it to Greenwich after that to see the beach. The wind has died down by now and I snap some photos from the top of the observation tower. I miss seeing the floating boardwalk I’d been told to check out, but I get to walk the beach nearly alone for a half hour in the late afternoon sun.

It’s getting close to dinner, but I linger on the sand awhile. As I get ready to leave, a 20-something German-speaking fellow and two young women arrive. He wanders into the water to feel the water on his feet, while one of the young women shows her delight in this beautiful day by performing cartwheels on the beach.

This trip was subsidized by Prince Edward Island Tourism and the Canadian Tourism Commission. Jim Byers’ stories appear every second week in the Star’s Travel section. You can find his blogs and Twitter feed at thestar.com/travel . Email: jim@jimbyerstravel.com

Just the Facts

SLEEPING: Inn at Bay Fortune has 17 rooms, most with fireplaces. Rooms from $135 to $335, depending on size and season. Innatbayfortune.com. In Charlottetown, the Delta has fine rooms and a nice lobby to complement the gleaming, new convention centre. Rooms in October from $149 to $209. deltahotels.com

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